eriority to himself of the four
Southern members of the Cabinet.

Judge Black entered upon his duties as Secretary of State on the
17th of December,--the day on which the Disunion convention of
South Carolina assembled. He found the malign influence of Mr.
Buchanan's message fully at work throughout the South. Under its
encouragement only three days were required by the convention at
Charleston to pass the Ordinance of Secession, and four days later
Governor Pickens issued a proclamation declaring "South Carolina
a separate, sovereign, free, and independent State, with the right
to levy war, conclude peace, and negotiate treaties." From that
moment Judge Black's position towards the Southern leaders was
radically changed. They were no longer fellow-Democrats. They
were the enemies of the Union to which he was devoted: they were
conspirators against the government to which he had taken a solemn
oath of fidelity and loyalty.

Judge Black's change, however important to his own fame, would
prove comparatively fruitless unless he could influence Mr. Buchanan
to break with the men who had been artfully using the power of his
administration to destroy the Union. The opportunity and the test
came promptly. The new "sovereign, free, and independent" government
of South Carolina sent commissioners to Washington to negotiate
for the surrender of the national forts, and the transfer of the
national property within her limits. Mr. Buchanan prepared an
answer to their request which was compromising to the honor of the
Executive and perilous to the integrity of the Union. Judge Black
took a decided and irrevocable stand against the President's
position. He advised Mr. Buchanan that upon the basis of that
fatal concession to the Disunion leaders he could not remain in
his Cabinet. It was a sharp issue, but was soon adjusted. Mr.
Buchanan gave way, and permitted Judge Black, and his associates
Holt and Stanton, to frame a reply for the administration.

THE PRESIDENT AND THE SOUTHERN LEADERS.

Jefferson Davis, Mr. Toombs, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Slidell, who had
been Mr. Buchanan's intimate and confidential advisers, and who
had led him to the brink of ruin, found themselves suddenly
supplanted, and a new power installed at the White House. Foiled,
and no longer able to use the National Administration as an
instrumentality to destroy the National life, the Secession leaders
in Congress tur